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WOMEN, WORK and the PERFORMING ARTS in GHANA a Thesis by BENEDICTA NAA ADJELEY SOWAH Submitted to the Office of Graduate And

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WOMEN, WORK and the PERFORMING ARTS in GHANA a Thesis by BENEDICTA NAA ADJELEY SOWAH Submitted to the Office of Graduate And WOMEN, WORK AND THE PERFORMING ARTS IN GHANA A Thesis by BENEDICTA NAA ADJELEY SOWAH Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Chair of Committee, David Donkor Committee Members, Donnalee Dox Angenette Spalink Kazuko Suzuki Head of Department, Steven M. Oberhelman August 2020 Major Subject: Performance Studies Copyright 2020 Benedicta Naa Adjeley Sowah ABSTRACT My thesis addresses women and work with a focus on the performing arts. Placing my discussion under W.E.B. DuBois’s theoretical framework of “double consciousness”, I address the attitudes that exist in Ghanaian society about the arts in general and about women in the arts, especially in dance. I explore the dance profession and implications for women who work in that profession in post-independent Ghana. I highlight directions in the area of concert dance and work opportunities for dancers. The thesis has five Chapters: the introductory chapter (Chapter I) gives a background to the thesis, indicates the objectives, method, and maps out the chapters. The thesis develops its argument in three chapters after the introduction and ends in a conclusion (Chapter V) with the main points of the thesis. Chapter II serves as a foundation-laying chapter for Chapters II, III and IV. It explains that Ghanaian women negotiate a strife between their desire, need, and opportunity to work in a constant financially unforgiving economy and, on the other hand, sociocultural expectations that they would also be solely responsible for the care of their homes and children. A context for this strife is gender-related labor transformation: women’s increasing presence in the work force in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa, Middle East, Asia, South America and United States. Chapter III identifies the strife as something embedded in the tension between a universal humanism that emphasizes common needs, and (oftentimes, patriarchy masquerading as) cultural nationalism—a tension that arises from a core feature of the postcolonial condition in Ghana. Chapter IV explores the traditional and modern contexts of attitudes about dance/arts, including the “triple burden” that Ghanaian women dancers face. I detail the rise of concert ii dance in Ghana—which laid the foundation for women to take careers in dance—and show that whereas traditional Ghanaian society valued performing arts/artists, modern Ghanaian society has exhibited degrees of disdain to the artist. I add that this disdain is more intense for working dancers and more so for women. Ending on an uplifting note, I detail growing employment opportunities in dance for women in Ghana. iii DEDICATION To God almighty for giving me the strength and the hope to be able to pursue this program. To Iddrisu Kanazoe who presented me with the flyer for this program, because he thought enough of my skills and talents to follow my dreams. To Abdul Karim Hakib for supporting me from afar. To Martha Asiedu who has been my support in many ways both spiritual and physical. To Mr. & Mrs. Sai for their love and care through this journey. To David Amugee a father pillar in my life. To Benedictus Mattison for being more than a brother. Ehi Idoko for being a supporting sister. To Robert Akuamoah Mensah for constantly encouraging me to keep going. With love, Benedicta. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. David Donkor, and my committee members, Prof. Donnalee Dox, Dr. Angenette Spalink, and Dr. Kazuko Suzuki, for their guidance and support throughout the course of this research. Thanks also goes to the Performance Studies department at Texas A&M, Sarah Franke for being a great resource and readily available to help. Finally, thanks to Myra Rangel, Nii Ocquaye Hammond, Oh! Nii Kwei Sowah, The entire Sowah family, Abigail Sena Atsugah, Meghan Abaidoo, Nii Tettei Tetteh, Dorcas Agyewah. v CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES Contributors This work was supervised very closely by Professor David Donkor, supported by a thesis committee consisting of Prof. Donnalee Dox, Dr. Angenette Spalink from the Department of Performance Studies and Dr. Kazuko Suzuki from the Department of Sociology. Ethan Brisby an old Aggie for being a pillar in fleshing out my process. Funding Sources My graduate study was supported by a fellowship from Texas A&M University and teaching assistantship from the Department of Performance Studies. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ v CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES ......................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………………………..…vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 Background ......................................................................................................................... 1 Objective ............................................................................................................................ 2 Method ............................................................................................................................... 3 Roadmap ............................................................................................................................. 3 CHAPTER II “HER KITCHEN, NOT MINE”: THE QUANDARY OF WOMEN’S LABOR PARTICIPATON ............................................................................................................................ 5 Overview ………………………………………………………………………………….5 “Women in the Labor Force”: Trends/Challenges in Ghana and Beyond ………………..6 A Practical Dilemma: Work and Socio-Cultural Expectations …………………………...9 Conclusion ……..………………………………………………………………………..14 CHAPTER III DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS: TRADITION, MODERNITY, AND THE (WORKING) GHANAIAN WOMAN ......................................................................................... 16 Overview ........................................................................................................................... 16 Double Consciousness and the Ghanaian Postcolonial Condition ……………………...17 Traditional (and Colonial) Constraint’s on Ghanaian Women’s Work …………………20 Dramatizing Double Consciousness: Three Ghanaian Playwrights …………………….23 Conclusion ……..………………………………………………………………………..28 CHAPTER IV DOUBLY CONSCIOUS ART FROM GHANA DANCE ENSEMBLE TO TIFALI: MAKING SPACE FOR (WOMEN IN) DANCE WORK ............................................. 30 Overview ………………………………………………………………………………...30 Dance and Other Arts in Traditional Ghanaian Societies ……………………………….31 Dance and Other Arts in Modern Ghanaian Society ……………………………………35 Working in the Arts: The Woman’s Triple Burden …………………………………….39 Dance as Work: Tradition/Modernity and the Birth of Concert Dance in Ghana ………41 vii Tifali: A short Case Study of an Emergent Space for Women in Dance ………………..45 CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................... 49 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 51 viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Background I have worked as a professional dancer for the past six years. Before then I had done a variety of jobs—selling in the market, managing a store, and teaching kindergarten. In High School I had excelled in business courses—I could have studied Economics or Business and pursued a related career. However, I wanted something different than that— a career based around my passion, dance. I did not know exactly how or where but wanted to be able to dance on stage and to make my living doing so. I enrolled as an undergraduate dance student in the School of Performing Arts, at the University of Ghana, hoping that the training would help me realize my professional dance aspiration. As a student I got selected to represent the School of Performing Arts at a two-week Glomus International Arts Conference in Natal, Brazil where artists from over 100 countries performed music, dance, and drama. I performed in a special “Performance Night” as part of a team of four women representing different nations: I, Ghana, and the others Denmark, Ukraine, and the United States of America. I recall my elation when, after the performance, people lined up to take photos with me and ask for my autograph. The biggest spotlight at this event was on us, four women! The sense of respect I felt was unlike anything I had experienced before as a dancer, and as a woman in dance. Back in Ghana realities were different. I started thinking carefully about how I might achieve my aspiration to be a professional dancer and whether I might experience a modicum of the sense of value I enjoyed at the Brazil festival. What kind of work were women in our dance 1 program pursuing after graduation? What happened to the women who graduated before me in the program. Were they still involved in dance, and where? I realized, for instance, that although we had many women among dance students at the School of Performing Arts, women were poorly represented on
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